Rich Schuster has worked in many phases of the HVAC and plumbing industries since 1991, from apprentice to general manager in the contractor segment, and later as a rep for a large HVAC wholesaler. He has written two books with a focus on installation training basics, and can be reached at richardjschuster@gmail.com.

Confidence

Did you ever stop to think of how your customers look at
you? Do they think of you as the hero that knows everything there is to know
about heating and cooling and will undoubtedly show up and save the day, or
rather one of the schmoes from the company that has “emerjency service” painted
on the side of their trucks. Does the idea of your presence emit confidence and
even awe, or instead induce aggressive vomiting by all involved? Be honest now;
remember, Mrs. Shaw the math teacher always said that “by cheating, you’re only
cheating yourself”.

I remember a good, but relatively inexperienced service tech
named Curt who was good natured, well liked, and honest to a fault. He was very
loud and aggressive which was fine, until he came across a piece of equipment
that he wasn’t completely familiar with. Now, I’m not talking about a
technician used to working on gas furnaces and a/c systems that was suddenly
put in front of a complex, geothermal system with a dual-fuel, back-up and
co-generation system to boot. No, I mean a furnace that was a different color,
or one that had a name that he wasn’t familiar with.

Well, when Curt was presented with an “unusual” furnace or
condenser by a customer, his reaction would be something along the lines of
“Wow, look at that thing! I never worked on one of these before, but I’ll give
it a shot. What’s the worst that could happen, it blows up? Say, you wouldn’t
happen to have a book for this thing, would you?” Now I ask you, is that the
way a hero speaks?

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Rich Schuster has worked in many phases of the HVAC and plumbing industries since 1991, from apprentice to general manager in the contractor segment, and later as a rep for a large HVAC wholesaler. He has written two books with a focus on installation training basics, and can be reached at richardjschuster@gmail.com.